Thief's Tale: A Journey Though Lordran
by Skalas'en
Summary: A girl ventures through the mysterious and dangerous lands of Lordran, discovering how her identity from long ago intertwines with her current destiny... A destiny she would gladly throw away. Rated M for violence, gore, suggestive themes, nudity, breaking wind and just all around badness. Please leave a review of what you think, it allows the story (and me) to get better.
1. Chapter I: An Unexpected Gift

****Author's Note: **So... Here it is. The first chapter is going to be a bit slow, but it gets better. Trust me. I'm experimenting with story pacing in this tale. Some events will be skimped over, then others will be drawn out. Also, this isn't a completely symmetrical story to Dark Soul's, there will be some differences. All that aside, Dark Souls and all of it's content is property of FromSoftware, and the OC's are my creations.**

Let's begin shall we?...

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><p><strong>Chapter I<strong>

An Unexpected Gift

_"Dust."_ She thought to herself for what seemed to be the millionth time as she sat in her cell. She had no clue how long she'd sat there in that dark corner, days had melded into weeks, weeks to months, months to years. The woman sat there silently, blue hair seemingly striking against the dull grey brick that was her cell. Her _cell _she spat at the ground at disgust, or tried to, as her dried cracked lips made the motion, but no liquid came forth. The woman sighed again, anger subsiding as quickly as it had come, a quiet sadness replaced it. She looked around her cell, gazing at the stonework, until her eyes settled on her hands.

She had taken off her gloves and set them beside her some time ago, feeling the sun's lackluster warmth on her decayed skin. It was something that gave her at least some comfort in this dark and dank cell. But couldn't still quite understand how she could still feel in such a morbid state. She had decided that it was her brand, her curse rather, that allowed her to feel anything at all at this point, whether be it pleasure or pain. Her fingers were bony and orange, along with her hands, feet and any other part of her body. Her body wasn't rotting... Not decomposing... Just dead.

She had slowly starved to death in this cell, desperately crying out to anyone that would hear her for anything that she could eat. She brought her knees tighter to her chest for comfort and shook her head of the memories. She shook her head quickly _"No, I'm not thinking of that anymore..."_. She sighed, looking up into the hole in the ceiling, which was now leaking patched sunlight into the middle of the cell. Her mind slowly churned with activity as she thought of her non-existent captors and who brought her to this place... She trailed in thought. She honestly couldn't remember by whom she was brought with or by, she just knew the reason.

She had been born with the Dark Sign. She couldn't quite figure out what had happened, but in the end it didn't matter. She was branded at birth, imprisoned, and in the most literal sense of the word, dead. She leaned back against the wall looking up, pursing her dried, cracked lips thinking _"Well, __**undead**__"_ and chuckled a bit. She knew that much, she was something special, her brand had prevented her from dipping into the abyss permanently. Instead, she sat, she waited and sometimes cried without tears. She had even even paced her cell for hours just to hear footsteps.

She silently put her gloves back on and resigned herself to bringing her knees to her chest and watching the dust settle onto the ground again in front of her feet. _"Dust."_ she thought absentmindedly for a few minutes, occasionally hearing small bird fluttering by, or the wind stirring through the prison. She pondered, lifting her head curiously upon hearing several loud thumps and hitting on stone, something that sounded like a scream, and afterward nothing at all. She simply shrugged and watched the floor once again. _"Probably just the building falling apart"_ She smiled at the small realization and laughed to herself, something that came out as hoarse wheezing sound. _"By the gods, the prison is literally rotting around me"._ She laughed for a good time after that and it felt good, she smiled happily at her little joke before settling back on her knees and watching the dust scatter on the ground.

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><p>It was but a few minutes later that she realized that a bag had dropped to her feet. She had heard the sound, but didn't bother reacting to it, expecting it to be nothing. She curiously eyed the bag without moving, and saw a blurred shadow covering the sunlight on the ground. She frowned and looked upwards, seeing armor from one of the royal families staring down at her. As soon as she saw him, he left, leaving her to almost believe that it was a trick of her stir-crazy mind. It wasn't however, when she looked at the bag, seeing something reflective. She slowly got up and made her way to the bag, picking it up carefully. <em>"Well, I wonder what's in my little party packa-"<em>

She immediately dropped it from surprise and shaking hands. Cursing silently in her head, she snatched up the bag greedily, reaching inside and pulled out a rusty key. She looked towards the cell door and back at the key, her hopes skyrocketing, but she stopped them, thinking curtly _"It could just be any old key... __Right?__"_ She made her way over and stuck the key into the keyhole. _"So far so good..."_ she thought and braced herself for the worst as she slowly turned the key...

The key turned and with a bit of effort, she pushed the door open. She stood flabbergasted, utterly in shock at the mouth of the hallway for but a few seconds that felt like hours. She took a deep breath and stepped outside of her cell, what had been her home for what she thought of as years. Excitement took over as she looked around, her mind a blur as she took in the new scenery, she skipped from one point to the other, looking at rubble, junk, anything that could be touched or moved she was all over.

At one point in the hall, she did a little dance. She knew she looked completely ridiculous in her tattered armor, but she hugged herself and giggled with pure joy. She was free of that cell, _"I'm free, I'm FREE!"_ she exclaimed in her head. Not noticing the encroaching figure that was slowly staggering down the hall toward her. She turned around from her little dance and saw the figure approaching.

She gasped a bit, taking a step backwards. Was it one of the guards? Did he hear her? _"Oh gods, please tell me he didn't see my dance..."_ she groaned inwardly. Then she saw his face... Or rather what was left of it. She almost panicked, then her foot brushed against the doorframe to her cell. She had been backing away from the figure the entire time into her cell. A mixture of emotions went through her body, she was terrified of the figure, upset that it had seen her dance and joyous she had escaped her cell. But then another emotion took over, one of frustration, which led way to anger. She didn't want to go back into her cell, she hated the figure without even knowing who he was. _"I'm not going back into that cell!"_ she exclaimed in her mind.

She rushed toward the figure, tackling it with all of her might, which was far more than she thought it was. Then she remembered her training, she had no clue if it was any use against a zombie, but she really had no other choice. She brought her knee up and smashed the zombie's face, then rolled forward, stumbling a bit before standing and whipping around. She watched in horror as the zombie stood up like nothing had happened, it's jaw dangling uselessly against it's throat.

She was just about to run and scream down the hall, before a man's voice from the cell next to her croaked "Here, take this!" She damned near jumped through the stonework ceiling at his voice, but instead saw a broken sword in his outstretched hand. The handle was barely wrapped with worn leather and the blade itself was broken into a point from what she could guess was misuse. Wordlessly she nodded her thanks and grabbed onto the hilt of the weapon, instantly feeling out the unfamiliar balance of the broken weapon. As soon as her hand was around that sword handle, she felt slightly safer, more in control of the situation than being unarmed.

She lowered her center of gravity, getting into a ready stance. She watched the zombie trudge toward her, raising his shattered sword to smite her. "There!" she back away slightly, just enough to dodge the swing and closed the distance fast. She flipped her weapon around and plunged it downward into the demonic man's chest. A chill erupted up her arm throughout her whole body as the living dead screamed and fell silent, collapsing onto the floor.

She didn't feel bad about the situation, rather, she felt proud that she had handled it so well. Her father would've been pleased at her abilities she smiled sadly to herself. "Nice dance there young lady" She jumped, completely forgetting the man in his cell letting out a small yelp of surprise. She watched the man carefully, rubbing the back of her head embarrassingly thankful that she couldn't blush. "_He saw that did he?"_ She walked over to the man's cell, seeing a thin silhouette in the darkness. The old man cackled "What's the matter? Undead cat got your tongue?" then waited curiously for a response, but when none came he became slightly annoyed. "You know, usually two people talk for it to be a conversation." The girl made some motions to the old man, some of which he found quite comical.

"Why doesn't she talk?" he mused to himself as she made motion after motion with her hands and body. Curiously, he asked the girl "May I see your mark?". The blue-haired girl stopped making a motion which looked like a cow mating with a brick wall and gave a curious look. She then shuffled her feet side to side averting his gaze _"Why of all things does he want to see __**that**__?"_ The elderly man coughed to get her attention "Sorry, I've been quite rude, my name is Sean of Astora. I used to be a librarian until my dark brand was discovered." He gestured to her, what's your name?

The girl frowned in concentration. _"What __**was**__ her name?"_ She remembered flickers of her old life, her training, her father... Seeing the girl focusing heavily, he thought of something. "Check the plaque next to your cell, you may find something that might jog your memory" Instantly the girl smiled and whirled around to check the plaque, only to find it barely intact and sitting on the ground. She scrubbed her sleeves on the plaque only to dishearteningly find three barely remaining letters, of which she couldn't read. Pursing her lips and concentrating hard, she thought she recognized one of the characters. She huffily picked up the plaque and brought it over to the old man, who kindly accepted it and stared at it. "Well, what does it say hmmm?" She shrugged, pretending not to care, although she was showing otherwise.

Sean frowned, knowing very well that there was little chance of her name actually being on the plaque, which had been there probably before he was even imprisoned. An idea struck Sean as he read the three random letters on the plaque and smiled kindly toward the girl "Well, it's quite obvious that your name is Fea, and my what a beautiful name it is... Why, I can recall quite a few Feas in the tales of my old library..." At the sound of hearing that name, she perked up. She didn't care if it was her name or not. The old man was showing kindness in naming her, giving her something she didn't have. Hope and an identity she lacked. The moment was purely satisfying, until it was ruined, by a sudden breaching of wind by the old man. And just like that, moment ruined, she made an attempt of rolling her eyes as the old man cackled in his cell. _"He's certainly not very stable is he?"_ but she smiled, she liked the old man, plus he had saved her... life? She had no clue, but she knew one thing as she gazed up the dimly lit hallway, then gagged and took a swift step backwards as the old man's cackling broke out into hoarse laughter. It smelled _really_ bad...

**End of Chapter I**

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><p>Sorry guys, I rewrote this chapter, fixing some bigger issues that I had with the plot. Also fixed some smaller ones which were identified to me by both Incoqnito and Leider Hosen. Big<p>

thanks to Leider Hosen for helping me along the tidbits of lore I didn't understand and enjoying my humor in the 2nd chapter.


	2. Chapter II: Rekindled

**Author's Note:** Finally! Am I right!? I finally feel that this is decent enough to release so you all can read it. There's some humor, further development into the plot, basically another slower chapter with some sparks of conflict in between.

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><p><strong>Chapter II<strong>

Rekindled

A living shadow crept across the floor, quick as a blur it drifted between the flickering darkness, making its way to the unaware undead that stood fidgeting. Hearing a stone scatter behind it, the hollowed undead turned just in time to see a black mass leap toward it, then all went dark before a sickening snap and all went limp. Fea uncurled her legs from the corpse's neck, removing it's face from between her thighs, slowly rising from the ground and rubbing her backside tenderly. She was definitely not as flexible as she used to be, her movements were slower, less precise than what she was accustomed to.

She mused for a second at her handiwork, she remembered most of her training from the thieve's guild. But most of her personal life was a deconstructed blur, she remembered her father slightly, but by and large her life was a pure mystery. Her thoughts went interrupted by a small huffing figure that hobbled up to her. "Well, thank you for waiting!" he exclaimed "Oh, wait! You didn't! You simply took off again down the hallway without a plan, do you have any idea how big this place is!? How big that staircase was!?" He stopped gesturing and glared at her while huffing more. Fea tried her best not to laugh as she raised her arms in a shrug, trying to look innocent. She was silently thankful for the mask that covered her face.

Sean caught his breath and leaned against the wall, clutching his walking staff. Fea felt a small pang of guilt for rushing off, sighing slightly she waited for Sean to say something. When a few minutes passed, she grew impatient, folding her arms and rolling back and forth on her feet. She further grew annoyed when Sean remained silent, not moving at all. _"Come on... How long are you planning on resting?"_ She thought to herself. She was about to reach over and shake him when he sighed. "See? Was waiting five minutes all that hard? And now, I have my bearings."

Rolling her eyes, knowing he was somewhat right as he checked the map he had stowed away in his bag. For such a small old man, he sure was able to carry a lot. His white tufts of hair barely reached up to her lower chest, he was a really small man, thin as well, as a librarian he certainly looked the part. And yet, as she watched him scratch his large beak-like nose, she saw a determination in his eyes. Almost like an inferno of intelligence and willpower, as he murmured to himself, drawing points on the map held with his tightly wrapped left arm and hand.

"Here, this way..." Sean said as he began to hobble off, before noticing that Fea was watching him. "What!?" Fea noticed that she had been staring at the old man for sometime, interested in what he was doing, admiring his skill with interpreting the map. Sean snorted as he crammed the folded map into his brown robe "Come on, best get you moving before your few minutes of inactivity drive you crazier than you are now." He started down the hallway, mumbling something about crazy cannibal hollow women. Fea simply chuckled to herself, following the man at a brisk pace.

They reached intersection after intersection, with Sean not stopping for a moment. In fact he seemed to be enjoying himself, going so far as to pull out an older book and reading with one hand while navigating the maze that was the Undead Asylum. Fea stopped him once when they had almost ran into a crowd of hollowed crazies, not paying attention he had stepped out into the hallway not five feet away from the group. Fea immediately grabbed Sean by the hood and ripped him backwards, stifling a yelp by placing her hand firmly over his mouth. She crouched catlike back against the darkness of the wall, letting the shadows envelop their figures from the rubble. Sean was about to protest when he saw the undead shuffle by.

There must have been at least twelve of them, passing by the book dropped by Sean in his surprise. The last one stopped, lingering for a few seconds, before bending over and snatching the book. This enraged Sean beyond belief as he squirmed in anger against Fea's grip. The hollow looked at the pages in the book, appearing to be interested in the writing. Sean watched curiously as the undead hollow examined and sniffed the book. The hollow then licked one of the pages, causing Sean to fight further against Fea's grip.

Thankfully, the hollow decided to wander further up the hall away from them with the book in hand, allowing her to relinquish her hold on a now frustrated Sean. Without saying a word, he gestured with his gnarled staff the way they were going and simply stormed down the hall. Fea stood and followed, figuring it best not to aggravate the situation. The rest of their trip went strangely uneventful, boring even, Fea eventually stopped worrying about running into anything and simply looked about her surroundings, trying to find interesting features in the prison's stonework. She eventually started going through her small pack on her hip again, rummaging through what she had taken from the corpse's they had passed earlier. Sean had been against it, but it wasn't like they were going to use any of this. She had also taken the time to put a sharper edge on the makeshift dagger with a very worn sharpening stone, it wasn't a fearsome weapon by any means she thought, passing it through her hands, but it would work in a pinch. _"Plus, it's in better shape than anything else in this place." _she sighed as she thought.

They kept walking as she adjusted her gear again, pulling out two small rusty boot daggers. Too small to effectively use as a melee weapon, she opted to use them as throwing weapons, they were decently balanced and with a bit of sharpening they looked horrifying. She tucked them back into a strap on her left arm, where they sat like two brown feathers against her worn black attire. She glanced around at the dimly lit hallways, trying to keep her mind occupied.

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><p>Finally, after what seemed like hours, Sean exclaimed "Here we are!" Fea wasn't paying attention enough to see that they had arrived outside in what seemed like a courtyard of some kind. It was surrounded by the building and the ground was covered in sparse brown grass and dirt. <em>"Well I guess they're not gardeners"<em> Fea thought to herself while smiling. In the center there was a sword in a pile of blackened gray ashes, almost like a fire pit. Sean simply moved over to the center and sat down on one of the rocks, setting his pack aside, clearly exhausted. Fea followed suit, only stopping to sit cross-legged on the ground instead, removing her mask in the process.

Sean watched her sit down and continued to observe her as she looked curiously into the ashes. She swore she saw the ashes almost move, but she knew it had to be her imagination. Sean simply remained silent, wracking his head over the girl that he was now traveling with, who he met only a few short hours ago. He stared at the long dead fire when a curious thing happened, he watched Fea move her hand towards the long-dead bonfire with her palm facing away from her. She had no clue what she was doing, she only felt a strange pulling for doing it. She closed her eyes, concentrating on willing the flames back to life, coaxing them with purpose. It was then that Sean saw a faint glowing upon the left side of her chest, the same place where Fea felt a warmth radiate from. She heard a small whooshing sound and then she felt a warmth on her hand. She opened her eyes to a completely dumbfounded librarian and a roaring bonfire.

"Yo-You-Y" Sean stammered hardly able to contain himself. "You lit the bonfire! Do you even know what this means!?" Fea looked at Sean with a blank look, she had no clue what it meant, she just kind of did it. "Sean continued on rubbing his temples, stopping and sighing. "All undead can interact with bonfires, but only a select few can completely reinvigorate one like this." Sean kept talking, mostly about bonfires, how they produced heat and different theories on how they operated. Fea couldn't help but just stare into the fire, only halfway thought for a few minutes more as Sean continued to ramble on different literary sources for several minutes before noticing that she was not listening.

Sean smacked his fist into his hand "Aha! I got it!" He waggled his finger at her "Oh, you're going to love this!" as he excitedly jumped up and shuffled through his bag. Fea turned her gaze toward him and smirked, he was certainly energetic now. He came and plopped down back on the rock facing her "Here, hold out your hand". She hesitated, but figured why the hell not? She certainly had nothing to lose. Fea held out her hand, in which Sean deposited a glowing mass. Well, glowing wasn't exactly the term, it seemed to be doing the exact opposite, it seemed to be absorbing the light around it. But it was glowing a slight white light, she continued to examine it carefully as it flickered, something in between a fire and smoke with the substance of water mixed in.

"That, is for lack of a better term, humanity." Fea brought it closer and cradled it in both of her hands, close to her chest. It felt alive, sentient even."It's a shadow of a previous life so to speak... Filled to the brim with life" She looked at him questioningly, he shrugged "I've come across a couple fragments and small splinters here and there over the years. It's not a lot, but it's enough for a couple full sprites" He saw her make a face and shook his head, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "No, they're not alive, they feel like it, but it's just imprints from the soul that left. They're essentially energy, life energy, that we can use since we're undead."

Just then Sean took his and crumpled his hand around the sprite, crushing it in his hand. Fea was horrified as the black fragments that escaped his grasp were floating in the air, then suddenly stopped and shot toward the librarian's hand again, disappearing into his skin. A small stillness followed, then Sean turned and put his hand to the flame. A small shimmering happened as light flickered around the librarian, then a giant flash occurred and what Fea saw nearly made her jump out of her skin in surprise. Who sat before her was not the old undead elder, well, he was old, but he had skin, eyes, a pale complexion. She stared in wonder as he smiled, clearly happy with himself. "Well now, see? Now it's your turn." as he gestured to her with his well weathered hand.

She bit her lip, taking a breath and lightly squeezing the sprite with her hand, but nothing happened. Sean raised an eyebrow at her and grinned mischievously "So, the crazy headstrong undead can kill a hollow with ease, but a tiny harmless sprite can stop her dead in her tracks." Fea snorted and crushed the sprite in her anger, gasping in surprise at the sudden surge of energy that entered her body. Without wasting a second, she turned to the bonfire and stuck out her hand in a huff. She felt a warmth that seeped into her body, as the new found energy seemed to sap from her slightly. Suddenly she felt... Different. She saw her hand her heart leaped with joy, she slowly examined her hands, looking over her body. Her frame was much fuller, fitting against her thieves guild armor much better than before, even her armor looked better for the wear. Sean beamed as he watched her look at her body in wonder, letting her take it all in slowly.

Then she saw them, her breasts. Gone was the flat chest of her hollowed form, back was her full bosom. She didn't have the biggest ones around, but her bigger than handfuls were certainly noticeable against the tight leather. Sean coughed loudly and Fea froze with a contorted expression, realizing her hands had been caressing her breasts, playing with them softly in wonder. She brought her hands down to her sides immediately and turned away from Sean, blushing profusely cursing in her head. Sean chuckled lightly with some understanding. Looking to change the subject, Sean stated "As you see that your clothes have been somewhat restored to their former glory, it seems to be a side effect of the humanity's energy. Although it's rather limited in comparison to your body."

He laughed and closed his eyes, enjoying the looseness of the muscles compared to his hollowed form. Sean snapped his eyes open when he felt a warm embrace, feeling Fea hugging him tightly, giggling happily, as he himself could barely breathe being smothered against her chest. He was just about to say a few annoyed comments, when Fea backed off and pecked him on the cheek, leaning back and smiling at him. Sean blushed, slightly taken aback by the gratitude of the young female, but quickly changed the mood while huffing slightly. "I see prison has not taken away _all _of your manners. Although a simple thank you would've sufficed." He then looked at her curiously "Can you say anything now?"

Fea thought for a second, then proceeded to mouth a word. Nothing came out, she tried again, no sounds emitted from her throat. She concentrated intensely on making syllables, then tried forcing it again and again. She finally was able to force out a sound that sounded like someone puking up small stones and Fea covered her mouth in surprise and horror. Sean immediately burst out laughing, continuing on even when Fea's hands were on her hips, looking rather annoyed and not at all amused. He slowly regained his composure shaking his head and sighing. "The darksign has a price for its benefits, yours must mean that you make sounds like a demon in heat." Fea's eyes narrowed "However, you don't seem to have any issues using your vocal chords, so that is indeed strange..." He trailed off thinking. "No matter, you'll simply have to communicate using another way."

Fea was about to retort when she heard something on the roof nearest to the giant double doors. A shuffling sound, some dust falling from the cracked, aging archway above the doors, then nothing at all. She frowned somewhat, tilting her head before turning questioningly to Sean, who was fuddling around in his pack for something, completely unaware of the now gone sounds. He turned around with a quill and some chapped, yellowing paper in hand. "Well, your curse may stop you from speaking, but probably not from writing." he mused out loud happily. "You'll simply have to write your thoughts out for me to read.". Sean thrust the objects onto the stone next to Fea, who looked dumbfounded at the writing utensils, then back at Sean, who gave an encouraging smile.

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><p>Fea rubbed the sore spot on her head from the leather book that became one with her skull earlier. Sean had shown his displeasure in her not being able to read or write, which she had aggravated by tossing the quill onto the ground in disgust. She never learned, nor did she care to learn. The stupid runes made her head spin just by trying to read them. She had refused Sean's help in trying to write something, opting to instead converse with him in a more vexing way. Sean of course had taken to his method of "imprinting" knowledge after her one-fingered communication by taking a heavy book to her skull.<p>

_"Damn"_ she groaned, rubbing the tender spot again. His hit had taken her completely by surprise, not expecting the librarian to move so fast. She sighed, crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out in his direction, to which the librarian ignored her, continuing to read the map laid out in front of him, scratching his head while talking to himself, following the strange patterns scrawled out on the map.

Fea got up, dusting her buttocks off of dirt and grime and looked toward the double doors at the opposite end of the courtyard. Seeing Sean still engrossed in his reading, she made her way over and pushed lightly against it. It was loose, but heavy she could tell, so she took one large breath and pushed, shoving both doors open revealing an unsightly area filled with broken tiles and from what she could tell craters from impacts of something. The building was tall, but had no roof, the second floor was supported by a row of off-white pillars on either side, some of them in better shape than others.

She made her way toward the center of the stone courtyard, seeing another doorway at the opposite side. This was definitely the entryway, she smiled, soon they could be out of the prison for good. Something caught her gaze, a heavily decayed arm emanated from a nearby crater, seemingly uncrushed and removed from the body that should of been attached. There were runes in front of the hand, written in blood quickly. She was about to examine it more closely when a voice came from behind "I see that dull mind of yours found the entrance to the prison." Fea nearly jumped out of her skin when she whipped around to see Sean with a smug expression on his face.

He ignored her angry gestures and mouthing and started to make his way over to the severed arm. He stopped and looked about the room, his eyes tracing along the crater marks before he read the runes. His expression turned to that of fear before turning and facing Fea. "It says... Run." Just then Fea felt the slight warmth of the sun disappear as a shadow enveloped the ground around her.

**End of Chapter II**

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><p>Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter and the humor that was contained. Since there's going to be a lot of darker and more moody sections, I figured some humor's needed to offset the scale.<p> 


	3. Chapter III: The First of Many

**Chapter III**

The First of Many

**Author's Note: **Hey guys, sorry it took a year to get this up and going again. I'm not going to make excuses, I write when I feel like it. I also am extremely particular about my writing, as such, I had no clue as how to handle this chapter, but I decided to do it like how I wanted initially. As I've stated before, this fanfiction will have dark moments, just like Dark Souls did. I feel like paying homage to such a great game would be undermined without trying to capture that essence of futility that the game procures your first time though. But as dark and moody as Dark Souls is, I feel that my own twist on the matter would make it even better, hence the humor and character development. Please leave a review to let me know how this handles, I'm all for making myself a far better writer than I currently am.

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><p>"It says... Run." Just then Fea felt the slight warmth of the sun disappear as a shadow enveloped the ground around her. Fea looked up just in time to see an eclipse of shadow moving downward at an increasing speed. As she dove away from the shadow, a loud explosion of dust and rock emanated from the ground, the shockwave throwing her body across the mismatched tiling of the entrance-way. Bringing her leg up, Fea rolled backwards into an upright position, crouching to absorb the momentum. Grimacing through her teeth while blocking out the pain throughout her body. <em>"That's gonna bruise tomorrow".<em>

Looking up her jaw nearly dropped, standing before her was a figure two stories tall. A demon with gray wrinkled skin, cracked in several places. Seeing the weaving trails of twisted flesh it was hard to tell where the muscle began and the fat ended. The demon's face was a contortion of rage, it's teeth gnarled and cracked in several places as well as it's antler-shaped horns. Drool trickled down it's chin as it hefted what Fea could only describe as a blackened rounded club. Looking closer, she could see that the club's natural color was darkened by the presence of several dried splotches of blood. She looked at the figure against the wall opposite, Sean, was obviously shaken up and caressing his head from the impact. The demon looked at her, hefting it's weapon into a ready stance, until it heard a groan coming from the nearby wall. Sean haltingly opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't, the demon's obsidian eyes were a piercing look of defilement and rage.

The demon, now focused on Sean, gave a throaty growl as it slowly lumbered over to the small librarian, who was now completely motionless, his face in utter shock. Reaching for her makeshift blade the blue-haired girl ran toward the behemoth, stopping halfway across the entrance-way when she saw the monster obliterate a support pillar into fractured rock without effort. Her throat went dry, her limbs felt as heavy as the debris that surrounded her and a cold sweat started down her dusted neck. _"How do I even- How do we get past this...?"_ Her legs anchored to the ground as her mind screamed for her to move, watching the uneasy spectacle unfold before her, she was immediately slammed back into reality by a howl and her name being yelled. The monstrosity held Sean in a firm grip, squeezing tightly enough to cause the elderly man to blubber and wheeze. Standing up straight, the monster brought the librarian eye-level before an abrupt pain caused it to step back and glance at the ground where a black-masked figure stood. A blade shone with black blood from where she had struck the monster's foot, desperate to keep it's attention fixed on herself, rather than on her new friend and mentor in it's hand.

The now irritated monster brought it's imposing weapon down with unforeseen speed, making Fea double-back, flailing backwards as the ground shook around her. Quickly gathering her legs under her, she saw the blackened club hesitate before lifting slightly from the impacted crater. She made a bee-line straight for the end of the massive baton, praying to get to the monster before it was ready to attack again. Strangely, it seemed to get closer much too fast for her speed, Fea had made the realization too late and collided with the club head on. The blue-haired girl felt several large snaps in her torso and one in her arm, causing her to drop her weapon as she tumbled along the scattered debris like a puppet thrown by it's master. Fea coughed and wheezed, trying to force more air into her lungs as she laid face-down on the dismembered cobblestone. Seeing stars and feeling pain spiderweb throughout her body was completely minuscule compared to the amount of torture that was the throbbing of her head. Coughing up copious amounts blood into her mask, she opened her eyes very slowly, feeling like her body was composed of lead weights. The sunlight that strown throughout the entrance-way was flittered with dust from the previous battle, slowly dancing around countless other partners before becoming still once again. Feeling shock-waves though the ground, she only just lifted her head to see the twisted behemoth looking at Sean again, who for the situation the librarian seemed very calm. Fea coughed again and the librarian turned to look at her, smiling sadly before speaking. With her head so jumbled and the world flickering around the edges of her darkening vision, Fea couldn't hear what was going on, however she could faintly see the librarian's lips mouth "It's okay..." just before the monster shoved it's prisoner into it's mouth and chewed several times before swallowing.

Fea's heart sank deep into her stomach, everything seemed to slow down and become extremely cloudy. Almost in a dreamlike state, her mind just couldn't accept what she had just seen. _"No..."_ Her mentor- her _friend_ was gone... And it was _her_ fault... The blue-haired girl began to rise to a kneeling position, tears streaming down her face as they mixed with the blood and earth that mottled her features as her ragged breath shook the ever darkening abyss that was her vision. The tendrils that slowly reached for her, shrank back, teasing her with the cold embrace of darkness before becoming patient once again, almost as if waiting for the inevitable. She tried getting to her feet, but her legs wouldn't obey her, not that she had the energy to even try and resist gravity. She slowly watched the demon turn itself and make it's way across the shattered floor, dragging it's weapon across the debris of shattered rock and flagstones before rising it slowly above it's next intended victim. Fea slowly looked up, slowly watching the darkness lower itself closer to her broken figure before feeling an enormous amount of pain, then nothing at all.

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><p>Thickened fires surrounded Fea's now naked frame, consuming her as she started to feel the energy sap from her very spirit. Panicking, she whirled around, trying to avoid the tendrils of flame that seemed almost sentient in nature, reaching, grabbing, pulling her towards the masses of flame that surrounded her being. Looking around her, there was nothing but flames and darkness, no escape from the torment that was quickly draining her reserves of energy. A small flame skittered over her arm and she jumped, pulling her arm back and hissing before realizing that her arm wasn't scorched by the flame at all. Furrowing her brow, Fea hesitantly reached out and let the flames dance along her fingertips, feeling warmth and a kind of inviting feeling. <em>"By the gods... Am I really going to do this?"<em> she very hesitantly decided to prod her whole arm into the flames, feeling a welling of heat and comfort throughout her arm she pulled it back out, slightly disappointed by the disappearance of the comfort. She watched the flames dancing before her slight frame, beckoning her with their methodical movements. Orange light flickered on her body, casting shadows on the curves that made up her womanly appearance. Taking a deep breath, Fea entered the wall of flame and watched as it slowly enveloped her being, lifting her higher before holding fast. Fea had not noticed it before on her arm but the fire that slowly starting enveloping her feet felt very similar to skilled hands that slowly massaged and warmed her flesh to the bone. As the fire crept up her legs, she could definitely feel the presence of hands and jerked her head to see the entity that was slowly caressing her being, as if feeling her unease, the fire halted it's progress and seemed to patiently wait for it's time to continue.

Fea blinked and gradually calmed down, taking a deep breath as the fire continued it's pace up her legs and toward her thighs, when the flickering flames reached her inner thighs Fea scrunched her eyes closed in embarrassment while feeling her face heat up from the total exposing of her body to this entity. The flames simply continued their paces, flowing gently over her upper thighs and womanhood to her midriff as she felt the warmth cascade over every little crevice. Breathing steadily in and out slowly, Fea smiled a little, for whatever these flames were doing it felt heavenly. Nothing felt sexual, or ill-willed as the entity flowed over her most private of parts, instead it felt comforting and the hands slowly massaged her pains away and warmed her core. The fire washed over her breasts and collarbone, slowly making it's way up her neck to where Fea found it very hard to breathe, instead simply opting not to as time went on. The flickering flames closed over her being completely as she smiled with closed eyes, feeling protected, comforted, she didn't want to leave the warming embrace of this place ever. Eventually her lungs began to complain as the light died away, the warmth gently leaving her body, replacing it with a cold hard feeling on her back. She didn't want to open her eyes, but her body screamed for air as she opened her mouth, nothing came. She tried moving, but her body felt weak and unresponsive, she fought with the oppressive darkness, willing herself to breathe. Her eyes swung open, colors and gradients shot into her skull as she filled her lungs with air before coughing and gasping as her body sputtered into it's new existence.

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><p>Taking a few moments, Fea calmed down and began to move, first sitting upward. <em>"What the hell was that..?"<em> Patting down her body, she found no pain and her garments had returned. Looking around at the surrounding scenery, nothing had changed, the dust still fluttered uncaring through the pillars overhead and the light still moodily drank through the cracks in the walls, giving the place a almost foreboding feel. The previously roaring bonfire sat beside her, gently crackling as it went about it's own business. Inspecting the rocks surrounding the fire further, she saw a hunched over figure with white strands of hair looking at a parchment of some sort. Fea's heart skipped several beats as she slowly rose to her feet, not taking her eyes off the figure. _"It can't be... No, it isn't... But how is-" _Fea's thoughts were interrupted by a calm older voice, sounding quite insulting "You certainly took your time didn't you?". The figure turned and Sean's face came into view, his face carved with deep shadows by the flickering firelight. Fea stood awestruck by the older man, who was now beginning to rant, clearly oblivious of the tears beginning to streak down the blue-haired girl's face "You had to take YOUR stupid time, allowing that giant ogre of a beast eat me! Do you even KNOW how BAD a demon's mouth smells!? It's the most repugna- Ooooof!". Sean's rant was cut short by the girl's tight embrace, he was about to protest when he felt her shake uncontrollably, hearing sobs emanating from the body against his. Sean didn't know quite how to react, or what to say, he simply sighed and began to stroke the blue hair that was pressed against his chest. They remained like this for quite some time, Sean eventually wiping her tears and showing that he was perfectly fine.

Fea eventually calmed down, though the guilt she felt from earlier still had not rescinded. She knew it had been her fault, not for being defeated, but for standing duly by frozen, doubt clouding her judgments while anchoring her legs in place as her friend was devoured before her. Sitting there silently, she listened attentively as she could to Sean who explained the basics of dying for the undead, or the "undying" as he joked. Explaining that being reborn was something that happened to those who were "cursed as undead", he caught himself when he saw Fea's eyes light up at the mention of this, quickly adding "However, it does not mean you're immortal! Being reborn is a testament of the will of the undead." Sighing as the blue haired girl made a face "The more you die, the harder it is to come back. Just because there's no physical damage, does not mean that there isn't lasting damage for the soul in the vessel." Sighing again, Sean rubbed his temples at the vain attempts to warn his partner, he simply sat down on the rock again. Turning and motioning her to come over, he spread an aged parchment out before them. Riddled with notes that Sean had acquired over the years, he fingered a door that laid adjacent to the broken pillar across from them. Pointing out several symbols and explaining their meanings, Fea quickly grasped the concept of how the map worked, what symbols were doors, pits and traps. She seemed to understand maps fairly well, but runes seemed out of her grasp for the time being. He watched as the girl aside his shoulder looked over the map, clearly not one with a decent education, but not dim-witted either. Overall she seemed to learn very quickly, however the girl became very frustrated when she couldn't grasp something. Sean thought to himself quietly while watching the girl study the map on the rock next to him, the fire still crackling away in what seemed like an eternity. While Fea, now seemed focused on the map, continued to trace the dark ink splotches, feeling the ever-changing textures of the paper. Of course she had not really cared for learning when she was younger, it seemed like a good way to maybe put Sean in a better mood, she had felt a twinge of guilt even after he had explained that he was perfectly fine for the thousandth time while she bawled her eyes out. Sean had looked at her earnestly, patting the stone next to him, how could she refuse the older man after all that had happened? Quite simply, she had forced herself to look at the maps and act interested in Sean's explanation of the undead. But she found that the map's symbols, while difficult to read, were child's play to understand with Sean. She began to become entranced with the map, it was like the whole world folded out before her, telling her exactly where she could move next without being seen. She had seen maps plenty of times before, but none of them like... This. She traced another rune of a locked door in another seemingly far-away hallway. None of them had writing, no runes, no placements of patrols, it fascinated her that something so small and fragile could be more useful than the sharpest sword... Although, looking at her makeshift blade, that couldn't hurt either. Upon seeing Fea look questioningly at the front of the map, Sean stated "There isn't another one you know..." the girl looked up at him confused. He continued "There's one exit, only one." he held one finger up for emphasis "The front gate. It's locked as well, I suppose that dreaded overgrown twisted pig of a demon has the only key."

Fea's heart dropped into her stomach for the second time that day. _"Did he just say that... Thing has the key?" _She shook her head and sighed, just then a sound erupted next to her, causing her to jump back, not in fear, but disgust as the old man cackled. "Well, the sun is setting, no point in getting caught in the dark. We'll rest here for tonight then." Fea winced as the the old man leapt off of the rock, displacing fumes as he walked and sat by the fire. Rolling her eyes and swearing that the fire's flames even started moving away from the elderly man, she laid against the farthest rock from the impact zone of Sean's latest deadly creation and closed her eyes, letting the soft emptiness of sleep take her worries and fears asunder. 

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><p>That's a Completed Chapter 3 folks, please leave a review and let me know your thoughts on the story so far. It really helps me and encourages me to write faster and experiment with more developments as the story progresses. Thanks for taking the time to read guys and gals, have a great morningday/night!


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